Second Test, day two: India (311-1) lead Australia (237-9) by 74 runs

Cheteshwar Pujara and Murali Vijay put India in control of the second Test against Australia as they finished day two on 311 for one, a lead of 74 runs.

Pujara was unbeaten on 162 and Vijay on 129 in Hyderabad after India had resumed on five without loss following Australia’s sur­prise declaration on 237 for nine the previous evening.

After underperforming with the bat, Australia knew they needed to make early inroads and their hopes were raised when Virender Sehwag fended behind off Peter Siddle in the fifth over of the day to depart for six.

India did not seem unduly worried, though, as Vijay drove James Pattinson for four in the next over and Pujara clipped his first ball to the boundary. Thereafter India dug in before the break and it was 18 overs until Vijay struck the next boundary, a lofted drive off Xavier Doherty.

Although Doherty beat the bat on occasion, the closest Australia came to another breakthrough was a run-out appeal in which replays showed Pujara was comfortably home.

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They made it through to lunch on 54 for one, and then stepped up the pace with Pujara’s intentions particularly clear. He struck three boundaries off a single Pattinson over early in the afternoon session while Vijay soon hit Doherty for six.

Test debutant Glenn Maxwell’s first over was a maiden and helped Australia to stem the tide, but he gave up 31 off his next six overs as India dominated the rest of the session.

They added 106 runs to reach tea on 160 for one, but were still only warming up and in the final session added 151, their unbroken partnership worth 294 by the close.

Australia looked short of wicket-takers, with Doherty the only man to even slightly unsettle either batsman as he found a little turn, but nothing they were unable to handle. The tourists will need to find a way to fix that on the third day if they are not to let the Test slip away from them as the series opener did in Chennai.

Mohammed Hafeez, meanwhile, registered a career-best 86 and Umar Gul picked up five for six as Pakistan beat South Africa by 95 runs at Centurion to win their Twenty20 series.

After choosing to bat, Pakistan made 195 before dismissing the hosts for 100 in 12.2 overs – South Africa’s lowest T20 total.

Ahmed Shehzad (46) proved a useful partner for Hafeez as the pair put on 83 for the second wicket, while three of Gul’s five wickets fell in the South Africans’ fifth over. Gul is now the world’s leading wicket-taker in Twenty20 internationals with 74.

Hafeez also shone with the ball, running through the South Africa tail to take three for 25.

The only other game in the T20 series had been rained off in Durban on Friday,